There have been a lot of rumors swirling in regards to Cuban infielder Hector Olivera, who was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball last week. One that has stayed consistent throughout the offseason is that the San Diego Padres are interested in signing him.
General Manager A.J. Preller is still at it. After conducting a makeover of the Padres in his first year with the team, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports writes San Diego is "considering an offer of upwards of $50 million" for Olivera, while the Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Dodgers remain in the mix as well.
But that's not all.
Ben Badler of Baseball America reports the Padres have already had Olivera undergo a physical, along with the Braves and Dodgers, which means they could be farther along in the contract process. Although the Braves have reportedly made an offer to Olivera yesterday, Passan says the Padres are "positioning themselves as a favorite" to land him with their latest speculated contract offer. This is their third pursuit of a Cuban player after missing out on Yasmany Tomas and Yoan Moncada earlier this offseason.
If the Padres were to sign Olivera it's relatively unknown where he would play, considering he has played an overwhelming majority of his professional games in Cuba's Serie Nacional at second base (373) and added 16 more at first base. San Diego's infield currently consists of Yonder Alonso at first base, Jedd Gyorko at second, Alexi Amarista at shortstop and Yangervis Solarte/Will Middlebrooks at third. It's believed Olivera will only have the ability to play second or third at the major league level.
It would be surprising if they gave up on Gyorko, who just two seasons ago batted .249/.301/.444 with 23 home runs and 63 RBIs, despite following that up with a poor 2014 campaign. They also just traded for Middlebrooks this offseason and Solarte in the middle of last season. In a piece written about Olivera earlier in the offseason, Badler enumerated four possible characteristics of a club who is considering the infielder, which include:
"A need at second base, or possibly third; scouts who have history watching Olivera going back to 2008-10; comfort with risk and uncertainty on a player with medical red flags; and quantitative analysts that have favorable translations of Olivera's Cuban performance data."
It's unknown if the Padres fall under the final three, but it's obvious there isn't a glaring enough need at second or third base to offer a contract in excess of $50 million to a 29-year-old who has played in only 73 games over the past two seasons, with a majority of those coming at the designated hitter position.
Nonetheless, we'll see what San Diego chooses to do.
